I, Jadis
by cascade-of-black-ink
Summary: This is the story of Jadis, which charts her childhood, the events leading up to her rise to power in Charn, as well as her reign and her downfall in Narnia.
1. Queen of the World

Author's note: If this is getting good reviews, I might just think of continuing… so if you feel that this is any good, then please do drop a review! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that comes from C. S. Lewis's genius.

Chapter 1: Queen of the World

I am Rana. I am Jadis. I am both. To the pesky villagers of Arthnen and, unfortunately the whole kingdom of Charn, I am Rana. But to myself, my secret empire and my fantastically loyal subjects, I am Jadis, the Queen of the World, the High Empress, the Divine Goddess!

Rana, I hated that name, because as Rana, I have to obey the orders of Ismeth, my step-mother. As Rana, the step-daughter, I have to please every fancy and whim of my wool-brained step-sisters: Lyndele and Ryrele, who I can't stand not even one bit because not only they have pretty names they don't deserve, but they are the worst sort of girls in the entire kingdom of Charn. Which kind of girl would want to spend her time dressing fancily up, giggling and twittering over the village boys who are not worth even a snort, and acting like a nice and gentle lady in front of everyone but behind their backs she tortures her poor step-sister who didn't ask to be sold to such a lousy household in a lousy village? And it doesn't help that Arthnen is practically on the very edge of Charn, thus cutting me off from the glory of the city of Charn, which is said to be the very best city in the world!

To compensate for not being able to visit, much less live in Charn, I created my own world, my own country, my own great city, and I called it Mahtra. I modeled it after Charn, at least what I've heard of it. Mahtra is a wonderful, big city with many temples, pyramids, big houses with pleasant courtyard and grand sculptures of its kings and queens. It is the heart of the world, the centre of all trades and the livelihood of the rich. There is no road or street in Mahtra that is unpaved, and no household that did not enjoy clean water. And in the grandest of all grand palaces in Mahtra, I rule as Queen. I, Jadis, the Queen of the World!

But nobody understands me. No one appreciates the beauty of Mahtra. I've been teased, yes, teased! All because Mahtra does not exist, they say. But it does, I argued, it is here, in my heart and in my soul. And they laugh even harder. At first, when I was but a little girl, I would cry and run and hide until Ismeth found me and then she would beat me before sending me to my room without any dinner. But later, when I was a little older, I would beat them back. I would hit them, hit and hit and hit until they beg me to stop.

But one day, I hit too hard. It was a rainy afternoon. Ismeth had sent me outside because I had burnt their lunch. I was huddling underneath the old, twisted oak tree behind the cottage and I was dreaming of Mahtra and the faithful people who did whatever I asked them to do. Then suddenly I heard a laugh and realised that the rain had stopped. I looked around and saw that insolent boy Uzmin laughing and pointing at me, shouting, "Rana is giving orders to imaginary people! Rana is batty! Rana is dotty!"

"I am not!" I retorted back, feeling the flush creep into my face.

"You are! Oooh, wait until I tell Ismeth! She'll flog you until your guts spill out!"

"Shut up!" I yelled.

He stuck a tongue out at me and ran towards the house. I rose, shaking with anger, and in my fury I did not realise what I planned to do. I saw an axe, the one that I had used earlier to chop firewood and just as the image of the axe formed in my mind it just flew up and headed for him. He didn't see it, he was too excited thinking about the reaction on Ismeth's face if she knew that I had been playing with Mahtra again, and he was about to knock on the back door when I silently ordered the axe to hit him or whatever please just stop him from telling Ismeth and suddenly it just lurched and lodged itself into his back. When he screamed I ran towards him and muffled his mouth with my hand and then he was on the ground, shaking and jerking like a fish out of water and he was dead.

At first I asked myself, what had I done? Was I human? I had killed him . . . I had killed a person. And I had used my Magic when I knew that I should have not because Arbith said that it was not right and anyway it was unfair. But I squatted and stared at his blank green eyes and I thought served him right because he was always teasing me about Mahtra and saying that I was ugly and stupid and useless. This was a good thing. He'll never tease me again. Most importantly, he will never be able to tell Ismeth about Mahtra.

I hid him in the neighbour's bushes and smiled to myself.

No one can escape the wrath and greatness of I, Jadis, Queen of the World!


	2. The Magician

Author's note: Thanks all for the reviews, though I'm still hesitant about this project because the review count is not too encouraging :P I'll just do my very best! I seriously need an opinion over this chapter because it feels like it can do with a rewrite and plus it is about Jadis and she's a difficult character, I dunno, but if you guys have got any comments at all on how to improve this story, please feel free to post it! Thanks lots!

Disclaimer: Copy and paste the one on the previous chapter.

Chapter 2: The Magician

Even in my triumph over Uzmin's death, a part of me was ridden with guilt. I tasted it in my food, felt it in my dreams. Every time I went out to the back my eyes would stray to the neighbour's bushes. They still had not found him, and for that I am grateful, though his mother had already voiced her concerns. But everyone knew Uzmin to be a naughty, wandering rogue. So they told her to give that brat three days to turn up. I wished I could gloat, but my conscience burnt my soul. What was happening? Why was I even feeling bad about him? He was dead, as good as gone, but ah! what if they found out?

The distress lasted for three days until the neighbour complained of a foul stench coming from the back compound. That was the final straw. I ran out of the house: ran and ran and ran as hard as I could. My heart beat ever faster, my mind buzzed and panicked when I heard distant screams. I had to tell Arbith, or my soul would not rest!

Arbith was my mentor, my listener, and my friend. More than that, he was a Magician. The very last in all of Charn, and the greatest. He lived all by himself in a small, shambling hut a good half-mile away from the main village, right at the very border of the Dark Forest itself.

My friendship with Arbith began because I was curious of what lay on the other side of the Dark Forest which stood a little off the border of Arthnen. Many people said that beyond the Dark Forest were barbaric countries, some said that it was a formidable desert that stretched on and on until it dropped into hell itself. Whichever version it was, all of them spoke of bad things. But I knew, somehow I just knew, that a beautiful place, a place that would give me all my heart's desires, awaits me on the other side of the Dark Forest. But I was afraid to cross it, because the Dark Forest was said to be the home of many evil, man-eating creatures!

I was sitting directly in front of the Forest, pondering and frowning over this when he came. Arbith. He was a gnarled, old man who looked like a moving tree stump. He sat beside me, still hardy despite his old age, and said, "Across the Dark Forest is a place of deep Magic which can only be accessed by Magicians."

I looked up, surprised, but I didn't yell or run away like other girls. At first I was, of course, afraid, but he didn't look like an evil person. So I replied, "Is it so? Have you been there?"

He nodded and said, "Yes. It is a special place, that place of deep Magic."

"Can I go there? Will I be able to?" I asked.

"You can, because you have Magic. If you will allow me to teach you how to wield your power, you can be a great Magician, like me." He offered me his hand and I took it and I never had another friend that was dearer to me. I learnt all sorts of things from him, mostly about Magic. He taught me how to make things move with my mind, he taught me how to turn things into stone, and how to heal wounds and how to read the minds of others. Often I visited him after lunch because in the afternoon Ismeth doesn't mind me so much. Every time after lessons had ended and we had some time before I had to go home to cook dinner, Arbith would tell me the story of his life, which never cease to amaze and astound me.

Arbith was also a listener of my problems. I trusted him, trusted him with my life, because no one but him would listen to me. So now it only seemed right to tell him of what I had done and let him judge whether it was right or wrong.

"I will not punish you," he said after I had ranted and fretted in front of him, "He deserved that end. He should, in the very least, left you alone and held his peace. I will say that he should not have trifled with you, you who possess Magic."

That made me feel a lot better, and the guilt was forgotten at once. With Arbith, who acknowledged me as Jadis, and understood Mahtra and my dreams and my ambitions, I was free to express my true self.

"Jadis," he said, and took my hand. "Jadis, forget the foolish boy. Forget your childhood. Cast away your innocence. It is time you knew this."

My curiosity was aroused at once. "What is it, Arbith?"

"Your ancestry," he whispered hoarsely.

My eyes widened. I had never known who my true parents were. Ismeth claimed she didn't know. I had refused to believe her at first until she slapped me and said that I was sold to her. That was the end of my trying to find out, but deep inside me I had never given up on it.

"Who was I descended from? Surely I come from a great line of Magicians!" I grew excited. "If not – if not I wouldn't have my magic, would I? Do you really know, Arbith? Do you?"

He laughed, but it was more like a cackle. "I do know."

"How?"

"I am a Magician. I know things. Listen, Jadis, you are half-Jinn. Your mother was Lilith - "

"The Queen of Charn?" I exclaimed.

"Aye, she, Queen Lilith."

"But why?" I was shocked. I had thought so highly of all the rulers of Charn. I thought of them as noblemen and noblewomen, people with virtues and who had never done any bad things. If they were not honest and good, then surely they would not have been to chosen to rule Charn?

Arbith read my mind. "The world is not how it seems to be, Jadis," he said huskily. "Outside, people put on masks: masks of honesty, masks of honour, masks of justice. But inside, pah! What do you know? I have been a Magician in the royal palace of Charn and I have seen many treacheries and many scams and countless murders in the name of politics." He cackled again. "Yes, Jadis, know . . . know how the world lies. It is not difficult to be a candidate for the King or Queen of Charn. It is not all that impossible to overthrow them either! All you need – all you need is . . ."

"What is it, Arbith?" I was listening, hanging on to every single word. My heart pounded with anxiety. I could hear my name being chanted: 'Jadis! Jadis! Jadis!' The sound of trumpets and cheering and the sweet taste of glory roared in my ears and the vision of a most beautiful crown studded with sapphires and emeralds and rubies and diamonds danced before me.

"The Deplorable Word," he said and fixed me with his glittering black eyes. He cackled again. "Ah, Jadis! I see the light dancing in your eyes. It speaks of a desire, it speaks of ambition! You will go far, Jadis, you will succeed!"

"Will I?" I asked breathlessly. "Will I really? Just with the Deplorable Word? How do I get it? How?"

"Not only with the Deplorable Word. You are the daughter of Queen Lilith, that alone gives you an excuse to lay claim upon it. Announce it, let it be known! Expose her evil! She has discarded a daughter – most importantly you are not the daughter of the King." Now Arbith had leaned closer to me. A grin of blackened teeth now smiled out at me. I swallowed and nodded urgently. "Then who was my father?"

"A Giant! That is why you are taller than most girls your age. Just imagine, Jadis, the Queen, a Jinn herself, having a daughter by a Giant! It is enough to besmirch her good name! All of Charn will hate her for her sin!

"But there is one impediment, Jadis," he said, but if anything, his grin grew wider.

"What is it?"

"She has a lawful daughter, the daughter of the King, and who, I am afraid, is your half-sister. She is being prepared for the throne as we speak. Terrify her with your might, Jadis," he whispered in my ear, "seek the knowledge of the Deplorable Word and destroy her . . . and you will be Queen of not only Charn, oh, yes, but Queen of the World!"

I gasped from the mere thought of it. It is possible, I can make my dreams come true! All I had to do was find out what the Deplorable Word was, and, and, perhaps gather an army to support me, and then I will defeat my half-sister, and then I will be Queen!

"It is a hard road, Jadis," said Arbith, but he was still grinning. "But you will succeed – I know you will. You have the strength and determination of a lioness. And most importantly you have the Magic."

"I will let no one stand in my way," I said through gritted teeth. "Tell me, Arbith, how do I find the Deplorable Word?"

He only grinned and said, "You will know. When you are ready."

I screamed and howled with fury. I reckoned my eyes had blazed.


End file.
